Chinese Woman Follows Online Path

Underwhelmed Chinese woman put her life up for grabs online rather than end it.

ByABC News
January 23, 2009, 8:07 AM

BEIJING, Jan. 23, 2009— -- It all started with a loss of enthusiasm for life. Chen Xiao was underwhelmed with the way things were going for her after a depressing 2008. She lost her business. Her friends were getting divorced. Her country was not having a great year.

So the 26-year-old Chinese entrepreneur thought it best to start letting strangers dictate her schedule. And in this time of global economic uncertainty, a big bonus is that she's getting paid for it.

"It's the way of life I chose for myself," Chen said.

Her online advertisement reads: "Life has no meaning. But I can't die, so I've decided to let you, my friends on the Internet, arrange every day of my life. I just want to do something for others."

In the course of six weeks, Chen has collected signatures on a poster on the Great Wall, done some pet-sitting, accompanied people to doctors' appointments, had lunch with a beggar, taken photographs of people and posted online for them. Some requests, which she declines, are not so innocent.

She has earned a whopping $500 in 1½ months, a good salary in China. She charges about $14 for an eight-hour day but will charge less for tasks that don't take much time. She estimates that if the work is stable, she could make around $300 a month, enough to pay for rent and buy food for her and her three cats and one dog.

Chen is a native of Hunan province but lives in Beijing. She is a graduate of a fashion college and opened a boutique last year. It was her dream. But because of bad sales and extra security ahead of the Olympics, she was forced to close. And then, two of her best girlfriends got divorced after short marriages. She was distraught and uncertain about the future.

"I didn't know what to do and I couldn't do things that I liked to do," Chen said. "If I couldn't arrange my own life, I might just as well let other people do it for me."

Chen decided to "sell her life" online. In early December, she went to mop.com, a popular Web forum, and posted her identify card and asked for people to give her tasks. She's sort of like a glorified errand girl but it turns out her job packs more emotion than she'd anticipated.